Arizona Diamondbacks at Pittsburgh Pirates

Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 11:35 AM (PNC Park)

Pittsburgh Pirates -113 / Arizona Diamondbacks +105

TV: FS-Arizona

The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Pittsburgh Pirates meet in the finale of their four game set from PNC Park on Thursday.

The Arizona Diamondbacks will look to complete the four game sweep after taking game three on Wednesday by a final score of 11-2. Ketel Marte led the D-Backs by going 2 for 5 with a pair of home runs and four RBIs while David Peralta had a double and two RBIs. Nick Ahmed belted a solo homer while Eduardo Escobar went 3 for 4 with a triple, a double and an RBI. Christian Walker and Wilmer Flores each had an RBI with Walker going 2 for 5 with a double and Caleb Joseph went 2 for 4 with a double as well. Ildemaro Vargas added a base hit to cap off Arizona’s offense in the winning effort. Merrill Kelly got the win to improve to 2-2 after allowing both runs on six hits while striking out five over seven innings of work. Zack Greinke will start game four and is 3-1 with a 4.60 ERA and 32 strikeouts this season. In his career, Greinke is 8-4 with a 4.54 ERA and 75 strikeouts against Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will look to salvage a win and avoid the sweep after dropping game three on Wednesday. Josh Bell and Jung Ho Kang each went 2 for 3 with a double and a solo home run to make up Pittsburgh’s two runs as a team in the losing effort. Cole Tucker added a double as well while Adam Frazier, Melky Cabrera, Colin Moran and Francisco Cervelli each had a base hit as well in the defeat. Jordan Lyles took the loss on the mound, falling to 2-1 after allowing five runs, four earned, on eight hits while striking out three over five innings of work. Jameson Taillon will start game four and is 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA and 20 strikeouts this season. This will be Taillon’s second career start against Arizona.

Arizona is 4-0 in Greinke’s last 4 starts and 8-2 in their last 10 games overall while the under is 6-2 in their last 8 road games. Pittsburgh is 9-4 in Taillon’s last 13 starts and 1-7 in their last 8 home games against a team with a winning record while the under is 6-2 in their last 8 games against the NL West. Arizona is 11-1 in the last 12 meetings between these two teams and 9-0 in the last 9 meetings in Pittsburgh.

The love that Pittsburgh continues to get in this series baffles me. I’ve been burned by the Pirates four days in a row thinking maybe that Pittsburgh can turn the corner and get one over and all the Pirates do is find ways to let me down. I get that Taillon is one of the better arms in Pittsburgh’s rotation, but we are getting plus money with an Arizona team that’s dominated the series and has their ace on the mound. Getting aces like Greinke at low lines is rare, and getting aces like Greinke at plus money is something that you can rarely pass up. Add in the Diamondbacks dominance in this matchup and I think this is one of Thursday’s easier picks. Give me Arizona for the sweep here.

Chris’s PickArizona Diamondbacks +105

The pick in this article is the opinion of the writer, not a Sports Chat Place site consensus.

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